Representative Huffman’s amendment makes it illegal to drape or hoist the flag prominently in national cemeteries, including at mass graves. The House passed the amendment Thursday with the support of GOP House leadership, including Speaker Paul Ryan, although roughly 160 Republicans and one Democrat voted against the amendment. The vote would have taken place on the same day the South Carolina House voted to remove the flag from the state Capitol grounds.
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Rep. Jared Huffman said, “While I appreciate that today’s vote represents progress, it is shameful that two thirds of the House Republican Caucus voted against this commonsense measure”. Auxiliary organizations such as the United Confederate Veterans (UCV) and United Daughters of the Confederacy carefully regulated the display of the battle flag in an attempt to control its meaning.
In addition to the flag ban, the Democrats were also hoping to force a vote on another amendment that would have removed a Republican-sponsored provision prohibiting the federal government from discriminating against religious groups, educational institutions, or contractors on the basis of religion.
Small Confederate flags can still be placed on grave sites.
“You know who else supports destroying history so that they can advance their own agenda?”
“That type of unprofessional language should not have been used and appropriate disciplinary measures against the staffer have been taken to ensure this does not happen again”, spokeswoman Leigh Claffey said.
Huffman offered a similar amendment a year ago to an Interior Department spending bill that would limit the display of the Confederate flag in certain national cemeteries. Asked Pete Sanborn, legislative director for Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.). ‘To continue to allow national policy condoning the display of this symbol on Federal property is wrong, and it is disrespectful to what our country stands for and what our veterans fight for’.
Less than a year ago, it was a Confederate flag amendment that derailed the entire appropriations process in the House, with Republicans unwilling to vote on a proposal to remove even one Confederate flag image – found on the MS state flag – from one hallway in the Capitol. We may not be far from a time when the only place that you can display a Confederate battle flag is on the back of a pick-up truck.
“The flag has been turned into the most vicious symbol of racism and prejudice in the whole world”, said Rep. David Scott, D-Georgia.
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Republicans touted the use of the process as a return to so-called regular order upon taking the majority in 2011.
